Discovery journey
by xKhalanX
Summary: A reporter and a pokemon trainer from Unova start a new journey in the Kanto region. They are among the first ones to arrive, but someone already plans to sabotage their quest and thus the relationship between the countries. Why? Only time will tell...
1. INTRODUCTION, Disembark

_Greetings visitors and thank you for accepting our offer to join us in this journey. I really do hope you enjoy yourselves during your stay. Please remember to remain seated at all times and keep arms and legs inside the vehicle._

Oh please! Would you knock it off already? You haven't even introduced yourself or explained what our dear visitors are about to experience! Sorry for my…colleague's lack of manners. My name is Zekrom, and the rude one who awfully introduced you is Reshiram. You may not know a lot about us but we know nothing about you, so we're even. Now I'll let Reshiram do the proper introductions. 

_Thank you. It's quite simple, really. You have been chosen to assist a fellow Pokemon trainer, I assume you all know what that is, who is about to start a new journey in a faraway land that goes by the name of Kanto. The reason is that we saw some potential in him and his companion and they may be able to help us deal with some problems in our beautiful land of Unova. A voice that only you will be able to hear will be your guide._

We would like you to go and support them in their quest. They won't be able to see you or hear you, but your mere presence may make them go on even when the odds are not in their favour. Don't worry if you don't understand, everything will become clearer in time.

_Well, enough useless introductions. Hold on and get ready for a hopefully entertaining experience!_

Feel the wind as your speed increases and gravity takes you down, look down to the endless ocean. That ship is our destination! There won't be any crashes, I assure you. Also check the wind direction before throwing up and please lean outwards before you do. Also remember that, should you grow uninsterested in this experience, you can drop out anytime by pushing the big red "Eject Button" in front of your seat. Thank you for your patronage.

"Roland! Roland! Wake up, you' don't know what you're missing!" yelled a boy while shaking Roland, who was just lying down on the tiny bed of his cabin.

"What is it, Lars?"

"We're finally approaching Vermillion City! Come on the deck, it's amazing!"

Roland then seated himself on the bed and, after yawning, said: "I'm coming, give me some time to put on some clothes." He then took his clothes and walked in the bathroom. After a few minutes he came out and put his pajamas into his suitcase, then he brought his precious camera and went on the deck where he heard Lars calling for him. It took him quite a while to find him since the deck was pretty crowded. He finally found him only for his clothing choice: his white and blue cap, his blue jeans and his favourite black t-shirt with a giant pokeball on it under a green jacket. "Here I am. What did you want to show me?"

"Look there!" said Lars while pointing towards the horizon.

Roland looked and saw the bright skyline of Vermillion City, which seemed to sparkle thanks to sunlight reflecting on the lean glass walls of the many skyscrapers and the white, long and thin wind power plants that struck out of the water. It was quite a sight and Roland didn't regret agreeing coming to Kanto by ship. Usually when his work as reporter for magazine "Around the World" required him to travel, he would have gone by car or by plane. "It's beautiful…It's hard to find something like this in Unova…" he said while lifting his camera, carefully focused and took a photo.

"Turned out nice?" asked Lars, to which Roland nodded. He was smiling, but he then looked at his camera and his expression darkened as he came to a crushing and awful truth. This didn't get unnoticed by Lars: "Is there something wrong?"

Roland replied sadly: "Yes. I have run out of rolls and forgot to buy more in Castelia City!"

"Oh well, you can always buy one once we disembark." Lars said cheerfully.

Roland nodded then began walking away. "Come Lars. We'd better start packing our things now to make sure not to leave anything behind. Also, did you send all your pokemon back to the professor?" Lars said yes with a slightly sad tone. It was a shame he couldn't bring his companions with him in this new journey, but the professor was very clear: Unova's pokemon are completely foreign to the Kanto region and who knows what would happen if they suddenly were to appear there!

He withrew his pokemon from the PC one by one and bid them goodbye before sending them back. He was surprised to discover he felt less sad than he thought, maybe starting from scratch wasn't so bad after all…and the fact it wasn't a farewell didn't hurt either, although this PC would have been the last one connected to Unova.

_We'll see each other again when I get back._

He was brought back to reality by Roland, who said he should start packing up and make sure not to leave anything behind. When they both finished, they went back to the deck to see the previously tiny buildings now towering over them as the S.S. Transcontinental was approaching the pier. It was then that he heard Roland speaking on the cell phone with someone. "…and I am wearing white jeans, a black shirt and and a white longcoat. What does it mean what's our hair's color? Fine…Mine is black, while Lars is brown. So where do we meet? Uh huh. Wait…I think I can see you from here…yes. Goodbye."

Lars looked at him and asked who was on the phone. "Our contact. Apparently this professor couldn't come, so he sent someone to do the introductions. They have a sign with your name written on it so it won't be hard to find them."

As the ship moored and the stairway laid down, a huge mass of passengers rushed outside. "Man…ten days stuck on a ship surely wear you out…" said Roland.

"Let's go! I can't wait!" replied Lars as he ran towards the exit.

When they sat foot on the pier, they turned around to look at the massive S.S. Transcontinental one last time, then they started looking for their contact.

They finally found them when they saw a sign with LARS MASEN written on it shaking left and right. As they walked they saw the sign was held by a girl with short, orange hair and next to her stood two boys. One was rather short, two or three years younger than Lars and was wearing an outfit similar to the one Lars was wearing, the only difference were pretty much the colors. The other one was the tallest of the three and was dark skinned, with spiky black hair, black trousers, a black shirt and a green vest.

"Hi there!" said Lars and Roland.

"Hello, Lars!" said the short boy.

Roland was instead greeted by the tall boy who was speaking on the phone with him earlier: "Hello Roland. And welcome to Kanto! It must have been quite a journey…"

"You said it!" replied Roland, before quickly changing subject: "Oh yeah, can you tell me where I can find a photography shop? I have run out of rolls…"

"Sure, but first how about going to breakfast together? Don't worry: the hosts will offer!" Roland remained silent for a while, stunned by this hospitality. Then again it was his first time traveling really really far…

"Thank you very much, I gladly accept. And you Lars?"

"Me too! It will be an opportunity to better introduce ourselves, isn'it?"

"Sure." The girl then spoke and said: "Okay, follow me guys! I know a fantastic place!"

The two boys shrugged and said: "Trust her on this one, she has quite the talent for finding good places to eat."

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** First: hello everyone! Second: please excuse me if my English in not perfect (it isn't my first language) but point out any mistakes and I'll be sure to correct them.


	2. One short day in Vermillion City

The place they went into was a nice Cafè called "The Sunset". They were all sitting at a round table waiting to order their drinks and began to talk. The tall boy said: "Well, I guess it's time we introduced ourselves. My name is Brock, this girl here is Misty and this is Ash. Nice to meet you."

Then Ash added: "There actually would be someone else to introduce, but he's at the Pokemon center…"

A waitress approached the table and asked for their drinks. Lars ordered an orange juice, Ash an apple juice, Misty water, Brock a hot chocolate and Roland a coffee.

They chattered for a while, mainly Ash and Lars while Roland talked with Brock about his work, to which he seemed fascinated: "Must be really cool! I mean, going to faraway places, seeing wonders of any kind…"

And then he talked with Misty, who was reading some heavy papers and looked quite distressed. She was trying to memorize some lines for a show held at her Gym.

Upon hearing the word "Gym", Lars turned immediately to her: "You're a Gym leader? I…I…I…"

Misty chuckled: "Relax, kid. I'm not challenging you now: after all you just arrived. Besides I left my Pokemon back in Cerulean to help with the preparations…"

Ash then said: "Oh wait! I almost forgot. Professor Oak asked me to give you this." He reached in his back pack and took out some small metal objects. They were all identical except for the color.

"I don't need one of those. I already have a pokedex, see?" Lars replied taking out his own pokedex.

Ash then smiled and said: "The professor told me that your pokedex does not contain data on our Pokemon and is not compatible with our frequencies or something like that…" Lars didn't understand, but he decided to open his dex and frowned when he saw only static on its screen.

"Well…I think I'll pick the red one." He said while he took it and flipped it open and Brock explained how it worked.

It had two screens. On one there was a list full of question marks. That was to keep track of all Pokemon seen and caught. On the other one there was a map with a blinking red dot. That was to mark their location and it would have updated itself in real time.

"Also if you scroll up and down with this pad and push this button while a Pokemon entry is highlited, you can see where to find it. There is also a battle mode that is activated with this button here."

Lars pushed it and both screens fade to black. "In battle you can point your pokedex towards the opponent's Pokemon and it will scan it's strengths and weaknesses on the upper screen. On the other one you will have a complete scan of your own Pokemon: moves, health, etc…"

Lars nodded confused. It looked quite complicated but he was sure he just had to get used to it.

"What about my starter?" Lars asked, he knew they would have to give him one: professor Junipter herself told him that.

"Right…here choose one." Ash said as he put three pokeballs on the table.

They had names written on them. "Magnemite, Machop, Nidoran." Lars read out loud, then Roland spoke as he was changing rolls: "I thought your starters were other ones."

"Yeah well…the Indigo League set out new rules for starters and forced these ones. But as long as you're a good Pokemon master, I guess it doesn't matter much." Ash replied.

Lars nodded and a little later their drinks arrived. They drank and Ash suggested to go outside so that Lars could actually see the Pokemon and choose. Lars accepted so they paid and headed outside in a large square. "Ok here we are now." Ash said while popping the three balls open and three Pokemon like Lars and Roland had never seen before appeared in front of them.

Lars pointed the pokedex towards the creatures, one by one.

"Magnemite: Types: Electric/Steel. Ability: STURDY, Immunity against instant-faint moves,"

_That's good._ he thought. _It means the opponent won't be able to have a cheap victory._ Then he pointed it towards the machop.

"Machop: Types: Fighting. Ability: NO GUARD. Every attack used by or against the Pokemon will hit."

_This doesn't seem too bad either! They can sand-attack or double team all they want and I'd still hit'em!_ Lars thought cheerfully, but there was one more to go.

"Nidoran, MALE. Types: Poison. Ability: POISON POINT. Poisons the opponent's Pokemon on touch."

He then closed the pokedex and started thinking: which would he choose? Machop? Being fighting type meant it would have been pretty strong and capable of ending matches quickly, especially given the ability to land any hit without fail. However this was true for the opponent as well. He would have to carry a lot of potions if he wanted it to last long.

Then there was magnemite. Lars discarded it quite easily: it's ability was useful, but since there were only a few moves that caused instant fainting and they all had low accuracy anyway, he didn't feel it was worth it.

The only one left was the male Nidoran. Aside from the fact that he found strange how his pokedex made the distinction only for this particular pokèmon and not the others, he found it's ability extremely useful: inflicting poison almost for free could prove extremely useful as he learnt the hard way. He turned to Roland and asked: "Any suggestions?"

Roland shrugged and said: "You're the trainer here, I can't decide something like this for you. Also I don't want you to start blaming me for a choice you should make yourse…hey, back off!" He was interrupted by the magnemite, who flew up to him staring with its big and only eye. It was near. Frighteningly near according to Roland. The levitating eyed magnet then slowly approached the reporter's camera, but he quickly stretched his arm as far as possible. "What are you doing? This is not a toy, you know! And it's by no mean yours!" The Pokemon seemed to simply ignore him and sternly continued to reach the camera, while all the others were laughing. "You brats! You think this is funny? It's not funny. At. All."

"Sorry." Ash said polling the magnemite back into its ball. "So, did you make up your mind?" He then asked Lars and he nodded: as he approached the male nidoran. "I choose this one."

He crouched to touch it and take it in his arms, but Ash warned him not to. However the small pink rabbit simply ran away and it hid behind one of Brock's legs and it was visibly shaking. "It's okay. I don't want to hurt you…please, come here…" He said gently while approaching the small creature. "I'll make you strong so you won't be afraid…"he said as convincingly as possible. And it was enough: the nidoran, after a short while, walked toward him and let him pet it. The trainer smiled and stood up again as Ash gave him the pokeball.

"Good luck!" he said cheerfully.

"You too! I hope we will get to fight sometime in the future." Lars replied and Ash returned with a smile.

Meanwhile, Roland was polling out of a suitcase his camera support and after he did he said: "I guess this is the perfect time for a group photo!"

"What? Well I can't see why not." Lars said then he moved where Roland asked him to and was inviting the others to join. When everyone was ready, he released his starter and kept it in his arms. It looked confused and started shivering and it only calmed down when it met its new master's eyes, looking in the general direction of the camera, where Roland was still messing with the camera and its support.

"Aaand…here, done! Okay everyone! Ready…" he said and after pushing a button, he ran to where Lars, Ash, Misty and Brock were standing. "Say cheese!" A red light turned on on the camera and after a few seconds a brief flash blinded them for a split second. "There…thank you very much." Roland said and after a short while he and Lars parted ways the others: Ash and Brock would have gone off to some land he didn't hear the name of and Misty returned to her gym. "Well then Lars…it's only you and me now."

"And him" Lars corrected holding the nidoran's pokèball in his right hand.

"Sorry. Anyway, now it's time to find the hotel. It's called "Rising Sun Resort". Pretty pompous name if you ask me…" Roland replied and they started wandering through the city. It wasn't long before they finally found it.

It was a big white 7-floored building and right in the center of the facade stood a big, orange clock decorated as a sun.

Lars said: "Looks pretty expensive…luckily professor Junipter managed to convince them, somehow." Then he followed Roland inside. The hall was huge, with beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, wooden walls and an elegant moquette floor, like a 5-star hotel even though the Rising Sun was only a 4-star hotel. At the reception desk they found an unexpectedly warm welcome.

"Welcome foreign friends! We were waiting for you!" The man who spoke was a gentleman in his 40s. He had a polished and clean appearance and was wearing a tuxedo. "My name is William Helding. I am the owner of this hotel and president of the Pokemon Fan Club here in Vermillion City. If you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to ask me!"

Roland and Lars glanced at each other not very convinced, then the reporter asked: "You're very kind, Mr. Helding...but why are you so generous? I mean...this place doesn't look economic, quite the opposite in fact!"

William chuckled and said politely: "Mainly for two reasons. First, you and your companion are among the first visitors from Unova to come here in Kanto and we hope to get more come and thus rising our in-come!" He then smiled at this joke, but the two guests didn't find it funny: Lars shook his head while Roland slammed his palm against his face. "The second reason - William continued - is because I owe your professor Junipter a favour and because here in Kanto we believe hospitality is sacred. But now please, let me show your room."

After calling the employee, William lead Roland and Lars up to the top floor and to a door numbered 542. He opened it and the two foreigners stood there amazed: the room was big, with two comfortable looking beds and a big glass door leading to a balcony with a spectacular view of the sea. William showed them around a bit and asked if everything was alright. They nodded and Roland asked: "May I ask you to get some things for me? I need them to develop my photos."

"Sure, write a list and I will try to get them. Oh, but I forgot tell you something, young trainer! See that PC in the corner? You can use it to transfer items and pokemon, but you need to synchronize it with your pokedex first."

"Why? Don't the pokemon I store get transferred to the professor's lab?" Lars asked.

"Well...the professor has a little space management problem for now, so if you want to store and withdraw your pokemon you will have to send them to our own reserve just outside Vermillion. However, since pokedexes are automatically synchronized with the professor's lab, you have manually change it. Don't worry, the process is quite quick and simple." replied William and then proceeded to show him how to do it.

By the time they had finished it was 6.00 p.m. and Roland gave his list to William, then he and Lars decided to enjoy the rest of the day by visiting the city.

"Tell me one thing, Lars...how did you name it?" asked Roland.

"Well...haven't decided yet, guess now is a good time as any. I think I'll call him...uhm...just a sec...okay, I've got it: Prometheus!"  
The nidoran, who was walking alongside his new trainer, squealed, jumping as high as its tiny legs could lead it. Lars smiled at it and said: "It seems he likes it!"

"A bit pretentious, don't you think?" Roland said perplexed.

Lars simply shrugged and said: "Well, if I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was, I have to get started on something!" he cheerfully replied.

As they walked into the city, Lars used some of his money to buy something useful for his journey: three potions and five pokè balls just for start. It was about 8.30 p.m. when they returned to the Rising sun and went to sleep: the following day their new adventure would have finally begun.


	3. And so the adventure begins

The following day was cloudy with a few sun rays managing to get past the grey coat in the sky, however it was unlikely to rain.  
Roland woke up early that day: he wanted to develop the photos from his finished rolls. He had stored some of his clothes in his wardrobe and left others in the suitcase so he could have enough space in his closet to turn it into a dark chamber. It had everything he needed: a red light lamp, a shelf at the right height and two basins with what looked like water.

_It's a bit small, but I guess I can't ask for more. _He thought, carefully putting down the photo sheet into one basin.

While Roland was doing this, Lars woke up the instant his alarm clock rang. He felt like the first time he began his journey. He didn't think of this as a second journey, but as another first given that he had to say goodbye to all of his old Pokemon for the time being. He got up and saw Roland's closet door closed and a dim red light from its bottom, then changed his clothes and knocked on the closet's door: "Roland. I'm going downstairs. I'll be waiting for you in the breakfast hall."

"Okay, I'll hang these photos and I'm coming." Roland said from the other side.

Lars shrugged and took his pokeball belt, his pokedex, and his backpack then headed to the breakfast hall, where many people seated at their tables talking and eating. He took a seat himself and was waiting for Roland to come. When he finally showed up, Lars waved his arm up and down, but stood quiet and immobile for a split second when he saw a silhouette behind his friend. However it disappeared quickly enough to make him think it was his imagination.

"What's wrong?" Roland asked.

"Oh, nothing…it's just that for a moment I thought I saw N in the hall." Lars said embarassed. _It's impossibile! N cannot be here. That time, on that castle's balcony… _He shook his head. He'd rather not think about that event.

"Don't be ridiculous! We both saw what happened at Plasma's castle. Maybe it was the trauma…anyway the best way not to think about it i sto eat so we can concentrate on your new adventure." Roland said smiling.

Lars nodded and they started eating their breakfast then walked out.

"So… Any ideas?"

"Well…" Lars said while opening his pokedex and checking the built-in map. "It seems there is a gym right here in Vermillion, but I don't think I can take it yet. So I say we go east here, and train a bit, as well as catching some pokemon." He concluded and then started walking without letting Roland voice his opinion (by the way, he agreed). The reporter suggested to check out useful information on the gym leader first, but the trainer refused: it was much more fun to fight with what you got instead of building a specific team for each single gym.

Sometime later they came across a large field much covered in tall grass. Lars said that was the spot and couldn't wait to catch new pokemon so he released Prometheus and said: "Okay Prometheus, let's show these pokemon what we've got! Come on, let's go!" The nidoran let out a little cry and looked at his new master a bit confused as if it didn't understand clearly, but the youth's enthusiasm was contageous and when Lars rushed into the grass, the pokemon quickly followed him, while Roland shouted to wait for him.

It wasn't long before they met their first wild pokemon: it looked like a big pig with an elephant's nose, stood on two legs and the bottom half of its body looked like it was submerged in mud. Lars pointed the pokedex towards the creature and frowned as he ran away.

"Drowzee. Type: PSYCHIC. Ability: INSOMNIAC. Sleep status cannot be inflicted. Level: 13."

Roland held Lars by his shoulder and asked: "Why did you run? Didn't you say you wanted another pokemon?"

Lars calmly answered: "It had the type advantage and was at a higher level. Prometheus is only at Level 7. Anyway let's wander around again, maybe we will be more lucky next time."

They indeed were: their next encounter was with brown feathers and looked similar to a crow.

"Spearow. Type: FLYING. Ability: LEVITATE. Immunity from Ground-type attacks. Level: 9."

This one was perfect:it looked strong enough and it didn't have the type advantage. Immediately Lars said, while looking at his pokedex.

"Okay, here we go now! Prometheus! Use Poison Sting!" he then turned to see the actual battle.

Prometheus fired a needle from his horn and it hit the spearow in a wing, but the poison did not kick in. The spearow then rushed towards Prometheus squeaking and hit it with its beak, but the nidoran wasn't in pain, it was smiling: after the attack, the wild pokemon started coughing and convulting on the ground: Poison Point did its job.  
"All right!" said Lars and he ordered to hit the now mostly harmless opponent with another poison sting.. Prometheus let out a sharp cry and flung another poisonous needle that hit the spearow right in the chest and it screamed in pain. Lars then took advantage of his opponent's inability by lunging a pokeball at it.  
The ball opened in mid-air and the usual red beam engulfed the spearow and sucked it inside, it shook for a bit and then finally stopped.

"Alright! That was easy! Good job Prometheus!" Lars said patting his starter, who enjoyed the attention and praises it gave him. It felt quite proud having defeated an enemy two levels higher than it although he felt bad to beat it so hard. "Now I have to name it…hmm…I have it: Hermes!"

"I'm surprised you managed to catch it this easily. It was higher leveled than Prometheus…" Roland said, more to himself than anything.

"Here in the pokedex it says that spearows are not at their best when it comes to defending: they rely more on the aggressive strategy." Lars flatly replied. Just then someone crushed into him and they both fell to the ground. Lars stood up and helped the other one: it was another trainer, around the same age as him. "You'd better watch where you run." He said.

"Sorry!" the other boy replied. He was wearing a white cap and short blond hair could be seen beneath. He was dressed completely in green and white. He kneeled briefly and said: "My name is Nilos. I have just started my pokemon journey and was trying to catch some wild ones here, and I wasn't paying attention, so…I'm sorry." He seemed quite cheerful, yet apologetic.

"Ah…it's nothing. Hey, since you are here, how about a battle?" Lars asked expectantly, to which Roland replied.

"Isn't it a bit too early for that? I mean, it's only your first day!"

Nilos smiled and said: "I would love to, trainer-whose-name-I-don't-know. But not now: I was busy catching that damned drowzee! Maybe next time, okay?"  
Lars nodded and introduced himself. Then they parted ways. Lars and Roland continued walking in the tall grass in hope to find some other wild pokemon to catch and to train, running from every drowzee they encountered.  
They then came across a small pokemon that looked like a white cat with huge eyes and a small golden plate on its forehead.

"What is that?" Lars muttered to himself while pointing his pokedex towards the creature, but then something unexpected happened: the pokemon looked at him and said.

"Hold it right there boy! I don't like being scanned, at all!"

Both Lars and Roland stared at it with wide open eyes and mouths. "It talked!" said Roland.

"Well, of course I can talk Mr. Genius! And just so your trainer friend here doesn't get any strange ideas: you can't catch me!"

"Oh yeah?" Lars replied with a challenging tone. "We'll see about that!"

"I already have a master, but we…well…got separated."

"How?" asked Roland.

"Well…yesterday we messed up on something and caused an explosion. We were thrust up in the sky and we didn't mind much, we were quite used to it. But never before we've been separated!"

Roland raised an eyebrow and Lars didn't look to convinced either.  
"Fine! Don't believe me then! But if you are still urging to catch me, I propose a deal: I'll tag along with you until we meet my master and if we don't, you'll be my new master."

"Sounds a bit too good for me…but I guess it's okay…but will you obey my commands?" said Lars.

"Are you deaf or something? I told you I will be with you on my own free will so of course I'll follow your orders! I only ask for two things. First: I don't like pokeballs, so please don't put me in there. Second: I really HATE nicknames, especially silly ones like "Kitty-chan", so please avoid it.

"Sigh…all right. So, how should I call you? And can you tell me something about your abilities?"

"Okay: my name is Meowth and I'm a normal-type, as of today I am level 16 and I am immune to psychic-type attacks. My special ability is Pick up: I can sense treasures buried in the ground!"

"Cool! Then let's start looking for treasures right here!" said Lars, to which Meowth risponde by making a facepaw.

"Listen, just because I tag along with you it doesn't mean I have to obey EVERY order!"

"Sigh…I guess there is no way to change that, isn't it?"

"Nope."

Their little chatting was suddenly interrupted when they heard a scream nearby.  
They turned towards the direction it came from and could see a girl being ambushed by two persons in light grey uniforms.

"Meow I know them! And we'd better get away right now!"

Meowth said starting to shiver and hiding behind one of Lars' legs.

"We cannot abandon her just like that! Can't you see?"

Lars replied as he started running towards the girl. Meowth then turned to Roland.

"Is he always like that? I mean, jumping headfirst into danger?"

"Well…I guess so…but back in Unova it was danger that found us. Usually. So, what you're gonna do? I'm going after him."

"Meow…I do need someone to return to my master so I don't have much choice…"

They followed Lars who already released Prometheus and was ready to battle. Facing him there was a man with his face hidden behind a helmet, while the other person, a woman, had a backpack in her hands. The girl was on the ground, seemingly unconcious. She had short purple hair and wore black trousers, a black shirt and a pink scarf. The man said: "Oh kid, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into! But I admit that a nidoran like that is quite a tempting prey…" he then briefly turned to his companion and said: "Cassidy, run!"

"Roger." The woman replied an then started fleeing with the stolen backpack and Roland ran after her, leaving Meowth and Lars behind.

"Roland!" Lars shouted, but Roland had already disappeared in the tall grass.

"Guess your friend ditched you! Too bad…go Zubat!" the man said as he flung a pokeball through the air. It opened and released a small blue creature that looked like a bat, without eyes and with a big mouth.  
Lars pointed the pokedex towards it to gather informations, but it had no luck.

"Warning. Scan failed."

"Hahahahaha!" the man said loudly: "I forgot to mention it: we use special pokeballs that make our pokemon immune to the pokedex scan! I, on the other hand, can see whatever I want of your precious pokemon…but let's end this quick: Zubat! Use Confuse Ray!"  
The bat flew right in front of Prometheus and pink rings began appearing at his mouth and quickly reached the nidoran, hitting it in the horn and nothing else happened, except the man started laughing: "I already won! Ahahaha!"

Lars ignored this comment and shouted: "Okay Prometheus, let's show him who's boss! Use Peck!" _How can he use it?_ he later wondered. Prometheus simply started turning and running around in circles under the effects of the confusion until he finally stopped and just sat there, immobile. "C'mon! Prometheus! You can do it! Please! I know you're strong! Please…"

The man laughed again, but this time louder: "Ahahaha! And you are supposed to be a trainer? Don't make me laugh! Now Zubat! Bite!" The bat pokemon let out a sharp cry that hurt Lars' ears like a nail on a blackboard and quickly reached the nidoran, who was still sitting there completely oblivious to everything until the opponent bit him right in the middle of his ears. Prometheus shaked his head back and forth to get rid of that annoyance, but to no avail and he quickly fell to the ground, unconscious and defeated.

"No! Prometheus…"

"Just for your information, Zubat here is level 20. Did you honestly believe you could win? Oh sorry, you didn't know! Ahahahaha! Anyway, your pokèmon is now mine!" The man said as he was approaching the pokèmon, but Lars retreated it in time into his pokèball. "Eh…don't count on it!"

But before he could grab the boy's pokèball, Meowth suddenly jumped up and kicked his helmet off, revealing a young man with short greenish hair. "Well, well…look who we've got here…" Meowth said with a sinister grin on his face.

"Wait, you know him?" Lars said with surprise.

"Yes, but now is not the time to talk about it." Meowth flatly replied, before he jumped up again and started scratching the young man's face repeatedly.

"Stop! Ow! That hurts! Bad kitty! BAAD KITTY!" he screamed.

Meowth did reply, but didn't stop his Fury Swipes: "You don't know how long I wanted to this, Butch! Perhaps you will think twice before talking down on me, like you did all these years!"

"GraaH! Zubat! Use CoAAARGHnfuse RaAAAAAARGy!" Butch tried to yell, and in a sense he succeded: the bat pokèmon turned around and shot a stream of rings to Meowth, who just stopped Fury Swiping and let himself fall to the ground.  
The ray hit Butch, who began to beehave like a giant baby. Lars thought it was a pretty amusing thing, even though he did feel bad for him.

"Meow, don't worry, its effect is only temporary, he'll be back to normal in a few hours…" Meowth reassured him.

The girl then awakened, approached them and said: "Thank you very much for defeating that guy, but that girl ran away with my pokèmon."

She saddened, as Lars approached her to comfort her, then from the tall grass came Roland, holding a rucksack in his hand. "Man, she was fast…but I got this…pant…pant…she gota way though…pant…"

The girl saw it and her sad face turned into a smiling one. "Thank you!" She said as she grabbed the backpack and checked it. "They're all here…you really helped me out here!"

Lars smiled: "Actually it was all thanks to him." He said pointing Meowth. The girl looked at him and smiled gently. The cat pokèmon blushed slightly. "Guess I've got to train hard…and apologize to Prometheus."

The girl shook her head and said: "Apologize, what for? You didn't have the chance to scan it so you couldn't have known the level difference. Plus it seems like even he wanted to fight.  
Anyway, my name is Janine, pokèmon trainer, nice to meet you."

"I'm Lars and…I'm a pokèmon trainer too, even though I just started my journey."

"And I am accompanying him. Name's Roland. Pleased to meet you too."

"Oh, are you a pokèmon trainer too?" Janine asked expectantly.

"No, I'm a reporter for Around the World. Ever herd of it?"

"Yes. I bought the first issue not long ago."

They talked for a while about various things, pokèmon related and not, then they all headed back to Vermillion City to have their pokèmon treated. During the walk, Lars and Roland learned that Janine also started her journey not long before and she showed them Ven, her starter pokèmon. "She has always been by my side since I was a kid." She said as a creature with big red eyes and covered in purple fur came out from a pokèball. A Venonat, according to the pokèdex.

After some time they finally arrived at the pokèmon center and lent their pokemon to Nurse Joy.  
Roland widened his eyes and blinked several times. _Oh my Gods! They're everywhere! I wonder if they plan to conquer the world…_he thought, but then shook his head: such caring and loving nurses could never scheme somenthing like that, although he found the fact that they were apparently in every pokèmon center they stopped in rather unsettling…however this thought was shut aside by another, more real problem: "Wait! What aut that Butch guy? I mean…leaving him there in the fields was pretty mean…"

"He had it coming! He and his partner tried to steal my pokèmon!" Janine said furiously.

"Meow, I agree with the girl here! Trust me, they did much worse…but I didn't expect to meet them, and for them to end up like that…" Meowth added.

"Yeah, about that, you seem to know them…since we are waiting for our pokèmon to heal, you can explain to us who they are." Lars said and despite Meowth's efforts to avoid talking about it, he finally gave up under the pressure of three people.

"Allright, I'll talk. Have you ever heard of Team Rocket?"

**Author's notes:** Sorry it took so long, but I have been pretty busy this last month and a half. However now I should be able to update more frequently.  
Anyway, I hope this chapter was worth the wait (Probably not). Also please give feedback and once again I apologize for any typos I have missed (sometimes Word's spellcheck is a hindrance instead of a help).


	4. The past comes back

"Yeah, of course I have heard of them! A bunch of criminals with no moral principle whatsoever! They use pokemon for evil!" Janine said angrily as she stood up. Lars thought for a moment that she could go on a rampage and destroy everything destroyable in the room, but luckily, she simply apologized and seated on her chair.

"Well I don't." Lars said flatly.

"Neither do I." Roland followed, but he was way more interested, maybe for him this journey would have been more than just pretty pokemon and places…_Yes! My reporter sense is tingling! This is big! This is the scoop of my life! Forget Team Plasma! _He was breathing heavily and his eyes were almost sparking, as if he was a kid the first time at a theme park.

"Roland? Are you feeling all right?" Lars asked worried while putting a hand on his shoulder. Roland coughed a bit to compose himself and nodded.

"Sorry, got a little lost in my trail of thought…go on Meowth."

"Meow, right…well…what Janine said is not entirely true: Team Rocket is an organization that operates outside the boundaries of the law, but they don't harm pokemon! Never had! They just kidnap or capture them to sell them at the black market."

Lars began scratching his head and said: "Wait, I don't get it: if their goal is to sell pokemon, why don't they go catching them in the wild instead of kidnapping them?"

Meowth was about to answer, but Roland was quicker: "Wild pokemon must be trained first, tamed ones are already trained, so if they want to make money by illegally selling them, it makes sense they get them as strong as they can without training them." He paused for a bit and turned to face Meowth: "Is it not?"

"Meow, that's right!" _Sigh, how I miss those days…_ "There are other activities on their agendas, but that's not important. What is important is that Cassidy and Butch were part of Team Rocket. Incredibly stupid agents and incompetent trainers, I tell you.  
Anyway, they were fired by The Boss because they not only they didn't accomplish their job (almost never did, actually) but they went explicitly against some of The Boss' orders, and that nearly got the Rockets exposed."

Janine looked at him with a suspicious face: "You seem to know quite a lot about them, are you part of Team Rocket too?"

"Meow, n-n-no…I just h-have connections!" The cat tried to justify himself. To the trio, it didn't seem much convincing, and was forced to tell the truth: "Okay yes! I am part of Team Rocket, satisfied now?  
Anyway…I was saying that after Butch and Cassidy got fired, I never saw them again. I didn't expect them to do…this! Those uniforms, I've seen them before! They are Cipher!"

"Cipher? What is Cipher?" Roland asked, quite interested.

"Another organization. I don't know much about them, but there are a lot of rumors around them and none is pretty…they say the Orre nation got destroyed by them and that they conduct experiments on stolen pokemon to clone them and magnify their strength while nullifying their weaknesses. I hope these are only rumors…"

Suddenly their attention got caught by a loud commotion in the operation room where Nurse Joy went shortly before. They all rushed towards the gate but immediately stopped when they heard the nurse yell: "Chansey! EGG BOMB!"  
They all took a huge step back and the operation room doors blasted open by a person crushing on the floor. He had the same uniform as Butch and Cassidy, but now Lars noticed something else.

"Roland…look, on the chest!" he said pointing to the man's chest. Engraved on the uniform there was a familiar emblem: a blue shield with a Z and a P that crossed each other.

"I can't believe it…" Roland said quietly, then he took out his camera and took a photo.

Shortly after, Nurse Joy came smiling as ever: "Good news everyone! Your pokemon are healed now!" She tossed the pokeballs to their respective owners, who caught them in flight and immediately released the creatures inside.

Prometheus jumped towards Lars and started licking his cheek, apparently he didn't mind being sent in a lost battle. "I'm sorry Prometheus! I promise I won't do this again!" the trainer said, and the pokemon let out some soft cries which could be translated as: "Let's get stronger instead of weeping on the past." He seemed to hold no grudges, or if he did, he hid it very well…

Roland called them and brought them back to reality: "Yeah, it's all real nice and sweet, but we have a problem here!" He grabbed the intruder, who was just now coming to, by the collar and yelled: "Who do you work for? Why are you here? Answer me!" The intruder did not speak, only letting out a faint voice. "I guess you need to wake up. Well then, let me help you!" the reporter said as he slammed the intruder's head against the floor. Everyone, Lars included, looked in shock: who would have thought Roland could be so ferocious?

The intruder finally spoke, but what he said wasn't well received: "Ha! Screw you! Who the hell do you think you are? I won't tell you anything! Go on! You can threaten all you want, you don't get anything from me!" He then spit on Roland's face and only Joy's, Lars', Meowth's and Janine's intervention prevented the reporter to kill him right then and there.  
They pulled with all their strength to separate the two as they threw insults at each other, then Lars and Janine dragged Roland out as the trainer said: "We're sorry, I didn't expect Roland could be…like this!"

Once they went outside, the two trainers dropped Roland on the concrete pavement and Lars said: "What were you doing Roland? I never saw you being so…so…"

Roland stood up and he was calmer now that the intruder was out of sight. He took some dust off his clothes and said: "Just a fit of rage really…don't know why. I sorta just lost it. That's it."

"Meow…are you sure?" Meowth said suspiciously, he believed Roland was hiding something. "But, what is this Team Plasma you speak of? I've never heard of it."

"Neither did I." Janine added.

Roland shrugged and said: "Long story short, they were a criminal organization in Unova that spread the Word that humans and pokemon should be separated as pokemon are no slaves and they don't want to be ordered around. However they planned to conquer Unova by making everyone else lose their pokemon so no one could stop them. It was disbanded after Lars here defeated their leader, who was then arrested. Or so I thought until two minutes ago…"

A brief yet heavy silence fell upon them until Janine said: "Oh look at the time! It's almost nighttime! We should find some place to sleep. I have an important match tomorrow and I want to be in top shape!"

"What kind of match?" Lars asked curiously.

"I'm going to take on the Gym Leader of course! Me, Ven and my other pokemon trained so hard to defeat him. I'm gonna get his badge!"

"Well…I think I can make some arrangements to let you stay at the Rising Sun with us." Roland said, to which Janine nodded and thanked him.

At the Rising Sun's lobby, Mr. Williams was initially skeptical about her free stay, but in the end he agreed, but he made it clear it would have been for only one night.  
"Okay, I'm going to have this photo developed right now and I will send it back to Unova, maybe they will able to explain something to us." Roland said once they went back to their room and locked himself inside his dark chamber.

Lars released both of his pokemon and said: "Well…we are taking a rest now, so…I guess this is a good opportunity to get us known better." He then looked at Hermes, who returned with a vengeful stare, but didn't move. "Sorry for before…it musn't have been very pleasant for you."

The flying-type let out some cries which in this case could have meant something like this: "DO YOU THINK SO? I wonder how you guessed!" and bluntly turned its head away from the trainer, who sighed.

"Sometimes, I wish there was a way to understand what you pokemon say..." Lars then extended his arm to pat the flying-type, who immediately tried to peck it. However Lars didn't give up and tried again and again until he finally managed to reach the creature's feathers and started caressing them. Hermes immediately stopped trying to scare its new master, admitting that what that pipsqueak was doing now was giving him a quite pleasant sensation and it seemed like the whole poison sting buisness was dropped.

After a while, the normal-type and the poison-type started discussing about their new master (by the way, they were willing to give him some credit, although Hermes wasn't getting his hopes high) and on the better tactics to use in battle (Prometheus thought strength was everything, while Hermes thought that speed is what makes battles). Then they both fell asleep on the floor and Meowth joined them.

After a while, Roland came out of the dark chamber. He looked around and saw the three sleeping pokemon. "Guess I will follow their lead…" he said as he let himself fall on his bed and immediately fell into a deep slumber.

Meanwhile, Lars and Janine were talking about themselves: "You know…you don't look exactly like someone who has completed a journey, I mean…you looked very surprised at every pokemon we have here!  
Well…it's my turn now. My story is not all that interesting however: I lived all my life in Fuchsia City, to the south and specialized in training poison-type pokemon, like Ven and your nidoran. I always dreamt to travel all of Kanto and becoming champion, but my father didn't approve…said I was to inherit the family's buisness so I had to stay there…that is until his work required him away from home, so I and Ven prepared and eventually fled." As she spoke the last few words her voice started shivering slightly: she loved her father of course and felt bad fleeing like that, but she was certain she would prove herself as a good and strong pokémon trainer.

Lars listened to her and felt bad for her: he didn't have this trouble since his mother not only supported him, but also encouraged him. He couldn't understand what it was like to have an overprotective parent. "Sorry, I didn't know that…shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay: I thought I might explode if I didn't tell somebody sometime or another…  
Yawn...I think I'm going to sleep…good night, Lars."

"Good night…" Lars replied and he too sank in a deep slumber.

I know this is sudden but now, dear visitors, you should hold on tight 'cause we're about to enter the dream world and we may encounter some turbulence. Again, if you feel like you're about to throw up, lean outside the vehicle.  
Are you ready?  
Here we go!

Roland was standing in the middle of an empty road in a big city. Skyscrapers were towering over him, looking more menacing than ever. Suddenly a faint echo reached his ears, but he couldn't understand it; he turned around frantically, looking for the source as the echo rang louder and louder until it appeared to scream in his ears: "You killed them!" As hard as he looked, he didn't see anybody around, so he started running and when he got at the first crossroad, he turned right only to see two corpses lying in a pool of blood. He approached them and he remained shocked to see those corpses were his mother and his younger brother. "Mom! Damian!" he kneeled over them and shook them in a vain attempt to wake them up, all the while tears were flowing out of his eyes. A deep laugh followed and as he was rising his head he could notice the shadows of four men. He looked at them and what was sadness turned to anger: "Ghetsis! You old bastard! You did this, didn't you?"

The man he was speaking with was a middle-aged man with short white hair, a long gold and purple robe with eyes upon it and a red monocle on his left eye. He simply laughed at Roland: "Ahahahahaha! No, I didn't kill them! YOU did, Roland! YOU!"

"No! You're lying! I didn't…I…" Roland said desperately, not noticing the shakes in his voice.

"Oh yes, you did! Take a look at yourself!"

As he finished speaking Roland looked at his reflection in one the glass buildings and saw himself wearing the Team Plasma uniform. He freaked out and tried to take it off, but failed.  
Ghetsis and the three men who were with him started laughing maniacally as they disappeared and their echo got louder and louder until it finally stopped. And then Roland found himself alone again and started shivering: the temperature was dropping rapidly. "W-What is this? Too…cold…" suddenly in front of him appeared a silhouette like he had never seen before, the only sure thing about it was that it was huge and definitely not human and it was approaching…"N-no! Stay away from me! Go away!"

The mysterious creature let out a loud screech before answering back in a terrifying tone: "SILENCE! YOU ARE A MURDERER AND AS SUCH YOU WILL SUFFER. FOR ALL ETERNITY!" It then rapidly lowered its head and devoured Roland whole, as he was still screaming with his head in his hands.

He woke up breathing heavily and looked around. The hotel room was normal and Lars, Janine and the pokémon were sleeping tranquilly. _That nightmare again! Will it ever leave me alone? But…that creature…that cold…what were they? _He then dressed up and walked out to relax himself. On the way he found Mr. Williams who was, apparently, arguing with a pokédex.

"Oh, hi there Mr. Roland. You need something?"

"No, thanks. I was just going out for a walk. And you?"

"I'm trying to get this stupid pokédex add on to work properly! Damn! Bill sure will have a lot to do with this crap!"

Roland was suddenly curious and asked: "Who is Bill? And what add on are you talking about?"

"Bill is a pure genius when it comes to pokémon inventions! He's the one who designed the DPSS (Data Pokémon Storage System) and the various add on to the pokédex. This one should translate in real time Pokémon language, but…well…listen here: "I be thirst give of water please." Does that sound right to you?"

"No…but if it's a translation problem, what do you have to fix about it?"

"In my pokédex the translation looks all scrambled so I have to find a way to get it in order and sort out the meaning. I contacted Bill and he told me it was a pokédex problem, so…"

They chatted for a bit then Roland walked out in the hotel inner courtyard: a large square patch of green with trees carefully planted in quarter circles around the corners and at the center there was a circular space with a pokéball shaped pool and some benches around it. Roland sat and sighed as he looked up to the moon before lowering his face, looking at his hands. "I…killed…" he said to himself. "I killed my mother and brother!" he shouted, sure that no one would hear him. He was unaware that someone actually did hear him: it was Meowth, whose superior cat hearing caught those words clearly. He woke up and went into the inner court by climbing down a vine from a window in the corridor.

"Meow…Roland? Are you okay?" asked Meowth.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay." Roland replied, trying to regain some confidence.

"You don't have to lie to me…I heard what you've shouted. So, do you wanna talk with someone?"

Roland simply stood up and said: "This is something that concerns me and me alone! Not even Lars knows about it, so what makes you think I would tell a complete stranger?"

Meowth shrugged. "Meow, do as you wish, but remember this: truth will come out sooner or later. I've seen this situation too many times…"  
Only shortly after, a dim light started appearing from behind the roof, the dawn. "We should get back and get ready…"

"Yeah…" Roland said, not really paying attention.

They went back in their room just about when both Lars and Janine were waking up. They all readied themselves and made breakfast.  
Outside the hotel, Janine, who decided to let her hair free from the usual ponytail she had and was dressing in green, said: "Okay now…I'm going to challenge the gym leader, wanna come and see me kicking his ass?"

"I'd like to, but I prefer fighting without knowing what types my opponent will use, it kinda kills the tension and enjoyment." Lars replied to which Janine also responded.

"Who cares about enjoyment! pokémon battles are fought to be won! No one cares how cool and awesome and pyrotechnic your battles are. The only thing that matters is wether you win or lose!" Her eyes were almost literally burning with passion as she spoke.  
Lars didn't reply, only wishing her good luck, however both Roland and Meowth decided to follow her.

"What? But why?" Lars asked.

"I'm just curious to see how gyms are around here, besides they want an article on it back in Unova." Roland calmly spoke.

Mewoth's reason was different: "Meow, I think it's best for you to go train alone: it's important for a trainer to have a strong bond with his or her pokémon without interference. That's why."

They decided to meet up again by the large construction site that was near the northern exit of the city and went their separate ways.

Now, dear visitors, we have prepared two vehicles for you at this point: if you want to follow Roland, stay on the right. If you want to follow Lars and help him with your invisible presence, stay on the left. Either way, the two rides will eventually travel back in time and switch places allowing you to see both.

**Author's notes**: I know I don't update very often, but this chapter was very hard to make. Luckily the exposition is over for now so in the next chapter something will actually happen! Also let me know in my poll what should I write first: Roland's path or Lars'?


End file.
